Trade in your iPhone for US$550 and BlackBerry Passport

Here’s the deal for users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone: Trade in your smartphone and you get a refund of as much as US$550 plus a BlackBerry Passport.

BlackBerry Ltd. is offering the deal to North American customers to give them the chance to own its square-screened, keyboard-equipped model even after they have already bought Apple devices, Bloomberg News reported. The offer starts in December and lasts until Feb. 13.

Those who agree to the swap will get, aside from a Passport unit, a refund of as much as US$400 depending on the model and condition of their Apple unit, plus a US$150 prepaid gift card, BlackBerry said in a statement.

The deal is part of BlackBerry’s holiday promotions, which also include a Black Friday sale, a financing proram, and red and white Passport models. The company believes that customers would enjoy Passport’s keyboard and wider screen features.

Having lost most of its smartphone market share to iPhones and devices running Google Inc.’s Android software, BlackBerry is now focusing on selling to business and government users, although it hopes to return to the consumer market someday, the report said.

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